My Choice
by True Rayanne Adaire
Summary: Ian feels guilty after Mickey comes out. Mickey reacts.


_AN: So this is a One-Shot about my personal favorite couple. Ian and Mickey are my all-time favorite OTP and I've been re-watching my favorite episodes lately. This story is set directly after Mickey comes out in the bar. I kinda just put down what I'd visualized happening…and this was it. Hope you guys like it. :D_

_True Rayanne Adaire_

**My Choice**

They walked back to Ian's place in mostly silence. Unlike in movies, they didn't hold hands or wrap arms around each other. They just walked together, comfortably. Ian was too quiet, though, and Mickey wondered why. Shouldn't he be happy? Mickey had pretty much just outed himself to the entire town to keep him around, he damn well better be happy. Casting a glance at the taller redhead, Mickey saw that he was watching his feet, face expressionless. This, Mickey knew, usually meant that he was trying to hide shit again. Mickey heaved a small sigh and rolled his eyes. He'd figure it out when they got back to Ian's…and after they'd cleaned up a bit. Right at the moment they honestly looked like they'd been involved in a murder or something, and Mickey really didn't feel like having the heart to heart that was bound to happen after what had just occurred looking like this. No, they'd clean up a bit and then they'd go to Ian's room and lock the door before anything was said. He was perfectly fine with sharing his feelings in front of Ian. Ian's family, however, was not gonna see or hear any of it. Period.

They walked in the door and almost immediately Fiona was on her feet. To her credit, she didn't blame Mickey. Instead, she stared at them intently as they in turn stared at each other. Mickey was just trying to figure out how much to really tell them. Ian…well God only knew what he was thinking. Finally, after what had to have been five minutes of silence, Fiona asked the question that had to be on all of their minds.

"What in the hell happened to you two?"

Mickey and Ian shared a look and Mickey sighed. "I came out. To the entire fuckin' town. With my dad sittin' across the room. There was a fight and my old man's back in jail." Was all he said.

It was the truth, of course, but Ian gave him an eye roll. He didn't say anything…which was odd. Normally, he'd correct Mickey with the full story. But tonight he just rolled his eyes and headed for the bathroom, pulling on Mickey's jacket sleeve.

"You did what?" Lip asked, eyes narrowed.

"You fuckin' heard him. We're goin' to clean up now and then we're goin' to the bedroom and we're gonna fuckin' sleep." Ian said, pulling once again on Mickey's jacket sleeve.

They headed to the bathroom before anyone else could speak. To them anyways. Mickey could clearly hear Lip and Fiona talking in hushed voices but he couldn't really care. All he could really care about was his boyfriend's strange behavior and the fact that he was covered in itchy dried blood. Ian ran a shower and stripped down, not looking at Mickey as he did so. Even weirder because he always looked at Mickey when he undressed himself. Mickey stripped down too, stopping only once to admire Ian's body before climbing in the shower. While Ian was washing himself off, Mickey stood back to watch. Finally, Ian's silence got to be too much and Mickey broke it.

"What's with you man?" he asked and Ian glanced at him.

"Can we talk in the bedroom please? Lip's probably standing at the door listening."

That idea was creepy as fuck. "Fine. But you'd better actually talk. This silent act of yours is gettin' kinda old."

Ian half-smiled and moved to let Mickey into the water, kissing him on the way past. "I will. Promise."

Mickey nodded, beginning to wash his own body off as Ian watched. When he was finally clean and dry, he got out and grabbed a towel, drying off both him and Ian with his hands. Ian rolled his eyes but didn't move to kiss him or anything else he might normally have done. Which, and Mickey would not have admitted this to anyone but possibly Ian, scared him just a little. Ian always reacted to Mickey touching him. Always. They dressed in silence, neither of them knowing what to say. Crossing the hall, Mickey locked the door and watched as Ian sank down onto his bed. The redhead stared at him for what must have been five minutes before saying anything. And, as he should have known it would be, what he said was utterly ridiculous.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? You didn't do nothin'." Mickey said, rolling his eyes and sitting next to him on the bed.

"If I hadn't pushed you to come out…none of that wouldn't have happened. I…you beat the shit out of your own dad tonight Mick."

Mickey rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around Ian, tugging him against him. "Shut up. It was my choice. I coulda let you leave. I could have let you walk out that door. But I couldn't do that. Coming out was my fuckin' choice and I don't regret it. The old man had it comin' anyways."

Ian stared at him. "Why didn't you let me leave? I…"

Mickey swallowed, looking away for a second. "You were leavin'…and I saw what life would look like without you. I saw the whole fuckin' thing and I didn't want it. Didn't want a damn thing without you in it. So I chose to fuckin' stop your dumb ass before you left. Now can we stop the talk and sleep? My head's poundin' man."

Ian laughed and kissed him. "Yeah."

They pulled back the blankets and climbed in, yawning as they did so. Ian, as was usual, pulled Mickey against his chest and fell asleep ten seconds later. Mickey stayed awake for a while, just watching the redhead. He'd made the right choice, there was no fuckin' doubt about that. Besides that, it had been bound to happen someday. Mickey woulda gotten sick of being without Ian and come out eventually. Why not save himself the trouble? He was smiling when he fell asleep, trapped in Ian's arms where it was warm and quiet. Tomorrow there would be questions to be answered and people whose asses needed kicking…but tonight he was going to sleep.


End file.
